Adobe’s Digital Price Index (DPI) reveals that prices for groceries, tools, home improvement items, and pet products have been raised to new heights.
“The economy’s in shambles” is something that we hear across the globe almost daily nowadays. Whether it be in the USA, the UK, Brazil, the Netherlands, or…well, Sri Lanka, everyone’s taken a collective beating on any number of occasions. There are the spiking prices of gas following shortages (wow, we’re running out of fossil fuels, who could have seen that coming?), combined with post-pandemic inflation has led to, well, a lot of disorientation and confusion. Coming from a country that also suffered the effects of mass political strife and corruption, I both can’t wait for this to be over and also can’t see any light at the end of this tunnel. Yet, I must use the dim light of my laptop to guide my way through the pitch-black nothingness as did Theseus navigate the labyrinth using naught but Ariadne’s string. Yes, I’m very extra, and no, the Greek mythology humor will not help curb inflation. However, now that we’re all grappling with this reality, let’s take a closer look at exactly what will be affected, and adjust our budgets accordingly.
The Adobe DPI is an incredibly useful tool for this very purpose; the Digital Price Index analyzes approximately a trillion different online retail visits and tracks stock keeping units (SKaI) across 18 defined categories of products (such as electronics, toys, etc.). This provided us with definitive figures on how prices are being affected for individual categories in 2022 and compared them with past figures. And honestly, the comparisons are a major downer. Let’s talk about the good news first: after a year worth of chip shortages in 2021, 2022 finally displays a year-over-year (YoY) decrease in prices, amounting to a difference of approximately 7.28%. Apparel fell by 0.10% YoY, but also saw a YoY increase by 9.03% in May 2022, so let’s perhaps not invest in our drip too enthusiastically.
Groceries, the items that we typically need to just live life out, saw a record YoY climb of 12.44%, and prices have been increasing for not one, not two, but 29 consecutive months. Pet products saw an 11.35% YoY increase, which is probably bad news for Mr. Tibbles or Polly. Tools and home improvement have risen by 10.44%, rising for 19 months consecutively. Overall, only seven of our eighteen categories saw any YoY price drops in June 2022 (toys, jewelry, apparel, electronics, books, sporting goods, and computers).
Read next: One-third of consumers think Customer Experience has upgraded, and a third seems less satisfied
“The economy’s in shambles” is something that we hear across the globe almost daily nowadays. Whether it be in the USA, the UK, Brazil, the Netherlands, or…well, Sri Lanka, everyone’s taken a collective beating on any number of occasions. There are the spiking prices of gas following shortages (wow, we’re running out of fossil fuels, who could have seen that coming?), combined with post-pandemic inflation has led to, well, a lot of disorientation and confusion. Coming from a country that also suffered the effects of mass political strife and corruption, I both can’t wait for this to be over and also can’t see any light at the end of this tunnel. Yet, I must use the dim light of my laptop to guide my way through the pitch-black nothingness as did Theseus navigate the labyrinth using naught but Ariadne’s string. Yes, I’m very extra, and no, the Greek mythology humor will not help curb inflation. However, now that we’re all grappling with this reality, let’s take a closer look at exactly what will be affected, and adjust our budgets accordingly.
The Adobe DPI is an incredibly useful tool for this very purpose; the Digital Price Index analyzes approximately a trillion different online retail visits and tracks stock keeping units (SKaI) across 18 defined categories of products (such as electronics, toys, etc.). This provided us with definitive figures on how prices are being affected for individual categories in 2022 and compared them with past figures. And honestly, the comparisons are a major downer. Let’s talk about the good news first: after a year worth of chip shortages in 2021, 2022 finally displays a year-over-year (YoY) decrease in prices, amounting to a difference of approximately 7.28%. Apparel fell by 0.10% YoY, but also saw a YoY increase by 9.03% in May 2022, so let’s perhaps not invest in our drip too enthusiastically.
Groceries, the items that we typically need to just live life out, saw a record YoY climb of 12.44%, and prices have been increasing for not one, not two, but 29 consecutive months. Pet products saw an 11.35% YoY increase, which is probably bad news for Mr. Tibbles or Polly. Tools and home improvement have risen by 10.44%, rising for 19 months consecutively. Overall, only seven of our eighteen categories saw any YoY price drops in June 2022 (toys, jewelry, apparel, electronics, books, sporting goods, and computers).
Read next: One-third of consumers think Customer Experience has upgraded, and a third seems less satisfied
